The mayors of Moura, in the district of Beja, and of Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portel, Alandroal, and Mourão, in the district of Évora, met last week with the Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, to whom they conveyed their concerns.

“If the lake is full of photovoltaic panels, this necessarily penalises the type of tourism that the Alentejo wants and needs,” the mayor of Reguengos de Monsaraz, Marta Prates (PSD), told Lusa news agency.

The mayor of Moura, Álvaro Azedo (PS), told Lusa that the project "is heading towards a complete detriment to what is being built around the reservoir," alluding to "the dynamics of tourism and sports and the preservation of the water element."

The project is promoted by EDP, which in 2022 won the auction for the exploitation of 70 megawatts (MW) of solar energy in the Alqueva reservoir, and is planned for an area of ​​the reservoir in the municipalities of Moura, Portel, and Reguengos de Monsaraz.

No “added value”

In his statements to Lusa, the mayor of Moura argued that "these photovoltaic investments do not bring any added value to the municipalities, quite the contrary."

"Developing the region is not about taking the results of what the territory offers away to Lisbon and large companies, but also about disseminating the factors of development and state investments throughout the territory," he stressed.

Noting that in the municipality of Moura alone, the floating photovoltaic plant will occupy 40 hectares, Álvaro Azedo emphasized that, in a certain area, the dam “will have a navigable corridor”.

“This will completely ruin what is also transformative and has been a great benefit to the region,” he stressed, warning of the negative impact that the solar panels will have on navigability in the reservoir.

The mayor of Moura also lamented that the municipalities are not consulted about these projects.

The president of the Reguengos de Monsaraz City Council pointed out that these municipalities “are already constantly plagued by all sorts of needs and then some” and choose to invest “in endogenous products to showcase them to people and in tourism”.

“Until very recently, Reguengos de Monsaraz lived almost exclusively from agriculture and viticulture, and now it already has a very interesting share of revenue in the area of ​​tourism,” with “many families depending” on the sector, she said.

Natural beauty

Marta Prates argued that tourists from North America or Scandinavian countries “are a knowledgeable type of visitor who place immense importance on the price-quality ratio,” and this is incompatible with this type of project.

“Any North American tourist will not want to navigate the Alqueva lake amidst photovoltaic panels. For now, the natural beauty is ruined, the tours are ruined,” she added.

The five municipal councils have also requested a meeting with the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) to present their concerns.

EDP has owned a floating solar power plant in the Alqueva reservoir since 2022, with five megawatts (MW) of power, with 12,000 solar panels floating across four hectares of the Alqueva dam reservoir.